And once again, the shoe had gone back on the other foot. Now Allentown needed to win. Win, yeah, or it was over. A team that the front office had publically stated in August should win, a team whose payroll suggested they had plenty of talent. Now after 5 games in the Series, Annapolis had squeaked out 3 wins and needed just one more to close things out.
Game 6 in Allentown was going to be a rematch of the Game 3 starters, Allentown's Moynihan and Annapolis's Schaeffer. The game was still nothing-nothing after 3.5 innings. Moynihan had been walking batters, but the Middies weren't able to get timely hits.
Allentown struck in the bottom of the fourth against Schaeffer. George Baeza led off with a single, and after Billy Rhyne hit a ball dee to right but caught, Zachary Coil got all of a hanging curveball from Schaeffer. It landed in the leftfield bleachers well over the wall, and Allentown had a 2-0 lead.
In the top half of the 5th, Moynihan set the Middies down in order, but looked clearly to be tiring after a putting up a line that had 6 K's along with 5 walks. Izaguirre decided to pinch hit for Moynihan in the bottom of the inning, and let the bullpen handle things.
James Tally came on in the 6th, and had no troubles. Things were looking good for Allentown and bad for Annapolis when the seventh inning rolled around. But sometimes when things are least likely to happen, that's when they happen.
The seventh place hitter James Sauceda lined a pitch down into the rightfield corner for a double. Michael Jones then hit a grounder to the right side and Earl Bearce. It would have moved Sauceda to third anyway, but Annapolis got a bonus when Bearce couldn't handle it cleanly. Jones was safe at first and the Middies had runners on the corners with nobody out.
A pinch hitter for the pitcher then hit into a forceout, giving Annapolis its first run. Fishel took a good lead off first, and was running on the first pitch. Suniga's throw to second was wild and went into centerfield, that allowed Fishel to move to third base on the play. Boris Landeros then hit a flyball deep to left and Annapolis had tied it up at 2.
Allentown came back to get a run in the bottom of the 7th and take a 3-2 lead. It didn't last long when Annapolis got another run home using a single, double and a sac fly to tie it up again. The rest of the eighth was uneventful, although Annapolis was running out of bullpen relief, already down two arms due to the injuries to Rozek and Zubiaga in the games down in Annapolis.
Finally, by the ninth inning had rolled around, the game tied, the crowd yelling loudly, 20 year old Sammy Salinas was again pitching. He held up in the ninth, even after giving up a leadoff double to the pinch hitting Casterjon. Casterjon was moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by Hassan Jones. With one out and a runner on third, Allentown looked to be sitting pretty against the youngster Salinas. But Salinas calmly struck out Earl Bearce, and then George Baeza flied out to the track in right. The game went to extra innings.
Salinas had survived that leadoff double in the ninth, and gave up another one in the tenth. The order was given to walk Coil, who had homered back in the fourth. With runners on first and second, Eddie McGill, the hero of the Penn League Championship Series, delivered a single to right that scored Billy Rhyne from second. Allentown had won, 4-3, and leveled the Series at 3 games each.
It was going to game 7.
Code:
BOX SCORES Annapolis @ Allentown
Game #: 1637, (GAME LOG) , Friday, 10/22/1999
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 R H E
Annapolis 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 1 0 0 3 6 0
Allentown 0 0 0 2 0 0 1 0 0 1 4 11 2
Annapolis AB R H RBI BB K LOB AVG HR RBI
B. Landeros LF 3 0 1 1 1 1 0 .317 3 5
R. Bozek C 5 0 1 0 0 1 2 .178 1 4
J. Cueva 2B 4 0 0 0 1 1 2 .263 1 4
J. Neyra 3B 3 0 0 0 2 1 2 .182 1 7
M. Truong 1B 5 1 1 0 0 1 5 .343 0 5
W. Brubaker CF 2 0 1 0 2 0 1 .243 1 5
J. Sauceda SS 3 1 1 1 0 0 3 .250 0 4
M. Jones RF 4 0 1 0 0 1 3 .095 0 1
A. Schaeffer P 2 0 0 0 0 1 2 .000 0 0
1-M. Fishel PH 1 1 0 1 0 0 1 .125 0 1
A. Solis P 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 0 0
P. Rocha P 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 0 0
L. Casares P 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 0 0
2-J. Schmidt PH 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 .000 0 0
S. Salinas P 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 0 0
Totals 33 3 6 3 6 8 21 .257 159 745
Substitution Notes
1 - M. Fishel pinch hit for A. Schaeffer in the 7th
2 - J. Schmidt pinch hit for L. Casares in the 9th
BATTING
Doubles: W. Brubaker (1, 8th inning off Ventura, 1 on, 1 out.) J. Sauceda (4, 7th inning off Tally, 0 on, 0 out.) M. Jones (3, 4th inning off Moynihan, 0 on, 2 out.)
Runs Batted In: B. Landeros (5), J. Sauceda (4), M. Fishel (1)
Stolen Bases: B. Landeros (1), W. Brubaker (1), M. Fishel (1)
Sacrifice Flies: B. Landeros (1), J. Sauceda (1)
Team LOB: 6
FIELDING
Double Plays: 1 (Sauceda-Cueva-Truong)
Allentown AB R H RBI BB K LOB AVG HR RBI
E. Bearce 2B 4 0 1 0 1 1 2 .156 0 3
G. Baeza RF 5 1 2 0 0 0 5 .195 1 3
B. Rhyne CF 4 1 1 0 1 1 2 .341 4 10
Z. Coil LF 4 1 1 2 1 1 2 .182 1 4
E. McGill 1B 5 1 3 1 0 0 0 .279 0 8
D. Suniga C 3 0 0 0 1 1 2 .195 3 9
A. Ferrant SS 4 0 1 0 0 1 4 .195 0 1
T. Segovia 3B 3 0 1 0 0 0 1 .238 0 0
1-G. Castrjn 3B 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 .286 0 0
A. Moynihan P 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 .000 0 0
2-R. Degnan PH 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 0 0
J. Tally P 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 0 0
J. Shetler P 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 0 0
3-A. Peraza PH 0 0 0 1 0 0 2 .000 0 1
F. Ventura P 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 0 0
4-H. Jones PH 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .391 1 3
A. Rosario P 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 0 0
Totals 35 4 11 4 4 6 20 .244 135 670
Substitution Notes
1 - G. Castrejon pinch hit for T. Segovia in the 9th
2 - R. Degnan pinch hit for A. Moynihan in the 5th
3 - A. Peraza pinch hit for J. Shetler in the 7th
4 - H. Jones pinch hit for F. Ventura in the 9th
BATTING
Doubles: B. Rhyne (2, 10th inning off Salinas, 0 on, 0 out.) G. Castrejon (1, 9th inning off Salinas, 0 on, 0 out.)
Homeruns: Z. Coil (1, 4th inning off Schaeffer, 1 on, 1 out.)
Runs Batted In: Z. Coil 2 (4), E. McGill (8), A. Peraza (1)
Sacrifice Hits: H. Jones (1)
Sacrifice Flies: A. Peraza (1)
Team LOB: 8
FIELDING
Errors: D. Suniga, E. Bearce
Double Plays: 2 (Ferrant-Bearce-McGill, McGill-Ferrant-McGill)
Annapolis IP H R ER BB K HR PI PS ERA RECORD
A. Schaeffer 6 5 2 2 0 3 1 67 40 2.88
A. Solis 1 2 1 1 3 0 0 32 14 2.25
P. Rocha 0.1 0 0 0 0 1 0 4 3 4.77
L. Casares 0.2 1 0 0 0 1 0 9 7 4.77
S. Salinas L 1 3 1 1 1 1 0 27 12 1.80 0-1
PITCHING
Intentional BB: S. Salinas
Batters Faced: A. Schaeffer 22, A. Solis 8, P. Rocha 1, L. Casares 3, S. Salinas 7
Inherited Runners-Scored: P. Rocha 1-0, L. Casares 1-0
Ground Balls-Fly Balls: A. Schaeffer 8-6, A. Solis 1-2, P. Rocha 0-0, L. Casares 1-0, S. Salinas 0-1
Game Score: A. Schaeffer 57
Allentown IP H R ER BB K HR PI PS ERA RECORD
A. Moynihan 5 2 0 0 5 6 0 89 49 2.01
J. Tally 1.2 1 2 1 1 0 0 25 13 5.14
J. Shetler 0.1 1 0 0 0 0 0 10 5 1.50
F. Ventura 2 2 1 1 0 1 0 25 15 6.43
A. Rosario W 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 8 6 1.35 3-0
PITCHING
Batters Faced: A. Moynihan 21, J. Tally 7, J. Shetler 2, F. Ventura 8, A. Rosario 3
Ground Balls-Fly Balls: A. Moynihan 3-5, J. Tally 3-2, J. Shetler 0-1, F. Ventura 2-3, A. Rosario 2-0
Game Score: A. Moynihan 64
GAME INFO
Time: 3:49
Attendance: 44968 (45000, 99.9%) at Allentown Ballpark
Weather: Partly cloudy (53 degrees), wind blowing in from right at 11 mph
PLAYER OF THE GAME: Alfred Moynihan